Fr. Damien, born 1840 in Tremeloo, Belgium. He joined the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts volunteering for the mission to the Hawaiian Islands. In 1873 he went to work as a priest in a leper colony on the island of Molokai. He died from leprosy in 1889 aged 49. The testimony of the life he lived among the lepers of Molokai led to an intensive study of Hansens disease, eventually leading to a cure. Pope John Paul II beatified Damien in 1995. He was named a saint on Oct 11th 2009.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Before a Nun Is Sainted, Honoring Her Upstate Past

UTICA, N.Y. — But for a wooden sign at its edge, the vacant field
resembled any other in a neighborhood of factories and worn-out
buildings here, not far from the Erie Canal: a few trees scattered
across thick green grass, a patch of shaggy weeds growing beside a
boarded-up garage at its rear.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

(Photo Right) Ivy Kahilihiwa, part of a group from Hawaii
celebrating the canonization of Mother Marianne, greeting Sister Rosanne
LaManche at St. Anthony Convent in Syracuse last weekend.

Nathaniel Brooks for The New York TimesA statue of Mother Marianne, who will be canonized on Sunday.

And yet, on Sunday, three tour buses bearing more than 100 Hawaiian
pilgrims arrived. Ignoring a steady stream of rain, they climbed across
the buckled sidewalk to pray for a woman who once lived on this land,
whose favorite hymn, “O Makalapua,” they know by heart and whose face they wore on pins, medallions and specially made Hawaiian shirts: Mother Marianne Cope.

Mother Marianne will be one of seven Roman Catholic saints — including another New Yorker, Kateri Tekakwitha
— canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday. The pilgrims had stopped en
route to Rome to celebrate the canonization of a woman beloved in
Hawaii and known as “Mother of the Outcasts” for her work among the
sick. “She was just an ordinary person, like us,” said Charlotte Recarte, 67, a
retiree from Oahu. “Inside all of us, we can be saints. We just have to
do the work. That’s what Mother Marianne did.”

Born Barbara Koob in what is now Germany, Mother Marianne moved with her
family to Utica in 1839, when she was a year old. Her faith was formed
at St. Joseph’s church and parish school, which she attended until
eighth grade. When her father grew ill, she left school to work for in
the city’s factories to help support her younger siblings. In 1862, when
they were old enough to care for themselves, she entered the Sisters of
St. Francis in Syracuse.

In 1883, she answered a call to help thousands of Hawaiians who were ill with a mysterious and disfiguring disease known as leprosy and who were being taken from their families and exiled to a remote peninsula on Molokai called Kalaupapa. Would the nun take charge of the hospitals and lead a ministry among these patients? “I am not afraid of any disease,” she wrote, agreeing to what would
become a more-than-30-year mission serving those banished to the
towering sea cliffs of Kalaupapa. She also paved the way for others in
her order to continue her work, connecting communities in Hawaii and New
York.

Eight thousand people with leprosy, now known as Hansen’s disease, lived
on Kalaupapa from 1866 until the isolation laws were lifted in 1969.
Among the 17 still alive, 9 traveled to New York to visit the life that
the nun had left behind. “I wanted to come to learn about what she was before Kalaupapa,” Ivy Kahilihiwa said.

Ms. Kahilihiwa arrived on Kalaupapa in 1958, after a small mark on her
back signaled her illness. By that time, medicine was available to help
ease her pain, but she saw in the older patients the disfigurement that
was widespread before treatment became available. “It mademe so grateful for Mother Marianne,” Ms.
Kahilihiwa, 76, said. “Not anybody could go there and do that work to
help so many who suffered.”As they crisscrossed central New York visiting her home, her convent and
her first parish, the pilgrims — patients, parishioners and clergy
members from across Hawaii, including Larry Silva, the bishop of Honolulu — saw pieces of Mother Marianne’s youth.

At St. Joseph and St. Patrick Church,
opposite the site of the original wooden building where Mother Marianne
first prayed, parishioners welcomed the Hawaiians for a prayer service.“Shalom.” “Aloha.”

“We are so joyful you are here.” Incense filled the air of the towering Italianate-style church. Hymns
were accompanied by ukulele and pu‘ili, a Hawaiian bamboo rattle.
Stephen Prokop, the superintendent of Kalaupapa National Historical Park, performed a reading in his forest green uniform, a kukui nut lei strung around his neck. “Mother Marianne is a major, major figure in the history of Kalaupapa,”
he said afterward, adding, “I wanted to learn more about Mother
Marianne’s life.”

The group traveled between Utica and nearby Syracuse throughout the day. At St. Elizabeth Medical Center
in Utica, one of two hospitals in central New York that Mother Marianne
helped establish, a group of Hawaiian nuns dashed into a parking lot,
hugging two nuns who had been waiting to glimpse members of their order,
whom they had not seen in years. And during the final stop of the day,
at St. Anthony Convent of the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Communities
in Syracuse, the last patients of Kalaupapa met with now-retired nuns
who had continued the work of Mother Marianne, ministering on the
peninsula before the isolation ended.

At the convent where Mother Marianne began her religious life and where
her remains lie, the former patients and nuns clasped hands and steadied
one another, recalling the beauty of the landscape and the nicknames of
those on the island: “tip toe,” “tom boy,” “the fishing nun.” Sister Rosanne LaManche, 92, smiled while listening to the shared
memories of long ago. She recalled her arrival on the island in 1949. “Driving in along the peninsula, I saw that along one road there were
graves, graves, graves,” she said, shaking her head. “Mother Marianne
should’ve been canonized the day she died.”

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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Mozlink’ for any or all of the articles/images placed here. The placing of an article does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Mozlink

School Resources

Statistics of Patients on Molokai 1866-1908

Size of Molokai: 260 Square MilesSize of Kalawao: 800 acres

Number of Patients on Molokai:1866 -1151880 -1,0001908 - 791 (693 were Hawaiians, 42 Chinese, 26 Portuguese, 6 Americans, 5 Japanese, 6 Germans, and 13 of other ethnicities)Total deportees to Molokai: approximately 8,000The first case of leprosy (a.k.a. Hansen's disease) was documented in Hawaii in 1835.The first group of patients departed from Honolulu Harbor in 1866 on the schooner, the Warwick.

Fr. Damien - SSCC Missionary (Damien's Writings)

In 1990, Fr. Patrick Bradley ss.cc., the then Superior General of Damien's Congregation, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, wrote a circular letter to all the members of the Congregation entitled: "Fr. Damien - SS.CC. Missionary" with some perspectives on the future of mission. Fr. Bradley's circular gathers together many of Damien's writings, which provide valuable insights into Damien's own life, motivation and work as a missionary. Over the course of the coming weeks, I hope to reproduce this publication which you can read by clicking on the link below.

Followers

Important Dates - Blessed Damien

Pictures & Images of Damien

Did You Know?Father Damien's life and death among his people at Kalaupapa focused the attention of the world on the problem of leprosy and the plight of its victims. After Damien's death in 1889, the people of England established a fund and a commission for the scientific investigation of the disease.Mother Marianne Cope nursed those suffering from leprosy in Hawai'i for 35 years. She arrived at Kalaupapa in 1888. Her philosophy of personal dignity in the face of death came almost a century before its adoption as the foundation of the hospice movement.Sea cliffs rise two thousand feet above the peninsula and ocean separate Kalaupapa from the rest of the island of Moloka'i. In 1972 this area was designated as the North Shore Cliffs National Natural Landmark, recognized as a significant example of sea cliffs in the nation's natural heritage.

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi claimed Damien to have been an inspiration for his social campaigns in India that led to the freedom of his people and secured aid for those that needed it. Gandhi was quoted in M.S. Mehendale’s 1971 account called Gandhi Looks at Leprosy as saying, "The political and journalistic world can boast of very few heroes who compare with Father Damien of Moloka'i. It is worthwhile to look for the sources of such heroism."

Religious News Network - Dublin - Podcast

Pope Benedict has announced that Blessed Damien – the Leper Priest – will be declared Saint within the next year. This follows the cure of a woman, in Hawaii, of cancer through the intercession with Bl. Damien. Eileen Good of RNN spoke to Fr. Eamon Aylward of the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary and asked him about Fr. Damien and his life caring for lepers in Hawaii.

Blessed Damien of Molokai

Message to SSCC Members & Friends

Brothers, Sisters, Lay Associates and friends of Blessed Damien, please forward any images, photos, articles etc. to me for inclusion in this website. Let's build up a good resource leading up to Damien's canonisation.

BlogCatalog

Bl. Damien de Veuster

The Leper Priest, the Hero of Molokai. Born in Tremelo, Belgium, on January 3, 1840, he joined the Sacred Hearts Fathers in 1860. He was bomn Joseph and received the name Damien in religious life. In 1864, he was sent to Honolulu, Hawaii, where he was ordained. For the next nine years he worked in missions on the big island, Hawaii. In 1873, he went to the leper colony on Molokai, after volunteering for the assignment. Damien cared for lepers of all ages, but was particularly concerned about the children segregated in the colony. He announced he was a leper in 1885 and continued to build hospitals, clinics, and churches, and some six hundred coffins. He died on April 15, 1889 on Molokai. Slandered by a Protestant minister, Mr. Hyde, Damien was defended by Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote an impassioned defense of Damien in 1905. He was declared venerable in 1977. Pope John Paul II declared him beatified on June 4, 1995.

Kalaupapa resident Kuulei Bell presented a lei and a kiss to Pope John Paul II during a Mass for the beatification of Father Damien in Brussels in 1995.

Logo - Damien Center Louvain

For more information about Damien's Order, the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, please contact: ssccdublin@eircom.net

4. Stevenson, Robert Louis. In the South Seas. New York: Scribners, 1911.

Edward Clifford. Father Damien: A Journey from Cashmere to His Home in Hawaii. London and New York: Macmillan. 1889. 352pp.Piers Compton. Father Damien. London: Alexander Ouseley. 1933. 196pp.Gavan Daws. Holy Man: Father Damien of Molokai. New York: Harper & Row. 1973. 293pp.Charles J. Dutton. The Samaritans of Molokai: The Lives of Father Damien and Brother Dutton Among the Lepers. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company. 1932. 286pp.Omer Englebert. The Hero of Molokai: Father Damien, Apostle of the Lepers. St. Paul Editions. 1962. 364pp. Translation of Le pére Damien.Hilde Eynikel. Molokai: The Story of Father Damien. Hodder & Stoughton. 2001. 324pp.John Farrow. Damien: The Leper. Sheed & Ward. 1937. 230pp.Vital Jourdan. The Heart of Father Damien, 1840-1889. Guild Press. 1960. 500pp. Translation of Le père Damien de Veuster, apôtre des lépreux.Ann Roos. Man of Molokai: The Life of Father Damien. J. B. Lippincott. 1943. 254pp.Philibert Tauvel. Father Damien: Apostle of the Lepers of Molokai, Priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts. Art and Book Co.. 1904. 206pp.

Kalawao Catholic Church

Damien Statue - Hawaiian State Capitol

Damien Icon

About Me

I am involved in the selling of stamps, related materials & some gifts in order to raise money for the missions. The stamps were a gift from a life long stamp collector who donated his collection to raise money for the missions. He told us that God had blessed him in his life and he wanted to give something back.
So in an effort to raise this money, the stamps are priced at a percentage of their market value. See Hibernian Catalogue of Irish Stamps for full value.
I will endeavour to do my best to keep this Blog current. However in order to avoid disappointment you should always check with me first to make sure that the stamps you require have not been bought recently. In some cases I may forget to remove some of these listings when the stamps have actually been sold. Please bear with me and I will do my best not to disappoint.